Privacy Policy

Data protection

The operators of these pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this data protection declaration. The use of our website is generally possible without providing personal data. Where personal data (e.g. name, address or email addresses) are collected on our pages, this is done, as far as possible, on a voluntary basis. This data will not be passed on to third parties without your express consent. We point out that data transmission over the internet (e.g. when communicating via email) may have security vulnerabilities. Complete protection of data against access by third parties is not possible.

Person responsible for data processing

Further information can be found in the legal notice.

Definitions

This privacy policy is based on the definitions used by the European legislator when adopting the GDPR (Article 4 GDPR). This privacy policy is intended to be easily readable and understandable for everyone. You can access the GDPR at the following link: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&from=DE

Explanation of essential terms

The aim of our privacy policy is to inform you about the processing of your personal data on our websites and through our apps in a simple and understandable way. To ensure this, we would first like to explain the terminology used. This privacy policy uses, among others, these definitions:

Personal Data
Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter the „data subject“). A natural person is considered identifiable if they can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

Affected person
The affected person is any identified or identifiable natural person whose personal data is processed by the data controller. Users of this website.

Processing
Processing is any operation or set of operations performed whether or not by automatic means, in connection with personal data, such as the collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

Controller or Data Controller
Controller or data controller means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by Union or Member State law;

Consent
Consent is any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.

Data processing

Personal data in connection with the use of this website includes, for example, name, address, as well as e-mail address and IP address. We generally only process users' personal data to the extent necessary for the provision of a functional website and its content. Furthermore, we collect personal data when you contact us by e-mail or via a contact form. In addition, we process personal data by providing certain third-party services, such as social plugins. In these cases, we have taken all necessary data protection measures for legally permissible data processing by these third parties.

Collection and storage

You can use our website without disclosing your identity. When you access our website, the browser used on your device automatically sends information to our website's server. This information is temporarily stored in a log file. The following information is collected without your action and stored until it is automatically deleted:

We are obliged by data protection law to also ensure the confidentiality and integrity of personal data processed by our IT systems.

The following data is logged for this purpose:

  • IP address of the requesting computer or end device
  • Browser used and, if applicable, the operating system of your computer or device
  • Name and URL of the retrieved file,
  • Date and time of retrieval
  • Name and URL of the retrieved file,

When the IP address is saved, the last two blocks are filled with the digit 0, so that a personal reference can no longer be established from the remaining data.

The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) sentence 1(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest arises from the purposes for data collection listed above. In no case will we use the collected data for the purpose of drawing conclusions about your person.

Cookies

To manage the cookies and similar technologies used (tracking pixels, web beacons, etc.) and related consents, we use the consent tool „Real Cookie Banner“. Details on how „Real Cookie Banner“ works can be found at https://devowl.io/de/rcb/datenverarbeitung.

The legal bases for the processing of personal data in this context are Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR and Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is the administration of the cookies and similar technologies used, and the related consents.

The provision of personal data is neither contractually required nor necessary for the conclusion of a contract. You are not obliged to provide personal data. If you do not provide personal data, we will not be able to manage your consents.

Server-logfiler

The provider of the pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

  • Browser type and browser version
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer URL
  • Hostname of the accessing computer
  • Server request time
  • IP address

This data cannot be attributed to specific individuals. This data will not be merged with other data sources. We reserve the right to review this data retrospectively if we become aware of specific indications of unlawful use.

Contact Form

If you send us enquiries via the contact form, your details from the enquiry form, including the contact details you provide therein, will be stored by us for the purpose of processing your enquiry and in case of follow-up questions. We will not pass on this data without your consent.

Newsletter

If you wish to subscribe to the newsletter offered on the website, we require your email address and information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the provided email address and that you agree to receive the newsletter. No further data will be collected. We will use this data exclusively for sending the requested information and will not pass it on to third parties. You can revoke the consent given for the storage of your data, your email address, and its use for sending the newsletter at any time, for example, via the „unsubscribe“ link in the newsletter.

Google ReCaptcha

To detect bots and the resulting spam, we use the „Google reCAPTCHA“ feature provided by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy, Opt-Out: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.

Google Analytics

This website uses functions of the web analytics service Google Analytics. The provider is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Google Analytics uses so-called „cookies“. These are text files that are stored on your computer and enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

IP anonymisation
We have enabled the IP anonymisation feature on this website. This means that Google truncates your IP address within Member States of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before it is transmitted to the USA. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address transmitted to a Google server in the USA and truncated there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to analyse your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide the website operator with other services relating to website and internet usage. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not merged with other data held by Google.

Browser Plugin
You can prevent cookies from being stored by adjusting your browser software settings. However, we would like to point out that in this case, you may not be able to fully use all functions of this website. Furthermore, you can prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing this data by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available via the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de

Objection to data collection
You can prevent Google Analytics from collecting your data by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set, which will prevent the collection of your data on future visits to this website: Disable Google Analytics. For more information on how Google Analytics handles user data, please see Google's privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de

Order processing
We have concluded a contract with Google for order data processing and fully comply with the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

Demographic information in Google Analytics
This website uses the demographics and interests function of Google Analytics. This allows reports to be generated that contain statements about the age, gender, and interests of site visitors. This data comes from interest-based advertising from Google as well as visitor data from third-party providers. This data cannot be assigned to a specific person. You can disable this function at any time via the ad settings in your Google account or generally object to the collection of your data by Google Analytics as described in the section „Objection to data collection“.

Google Maps

This website uses the Google Maps API to visually display geographical information. The operating company of Google Maps is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA. When you access the internet pages on which Google Maps is integrated, data is transferred to Google servers in third countries. You can find more information on data processing by Google in Google's privacy policy. There, you can also change your personal privacy settings in the Privacy Centre. With regard to the use of Google Maps, it should be pointed out that the appropriate level of data protection is guaranteed by Google as part of its participation in the so-called „Privacy Shield“ and the measures taken by Google for data protection and data security. Detailed information on managing your own data in connection with Google products can be found at https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190. The legal basis for this data processing is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest within the meaning of this legal norm is an appealing presentation of our online offering and the easy discoverability of the locations specified by us on the website.

Google Web Fonts

We use fonts and jQuery scripts that are not stored locally on our web server but are provided by Google via a Content Delivery Network. When calling up pages on which these fonts or scripts are integrated, data is transferred to Google's servers in third countries. The operating company of Google CDNs is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA. With regard to the design of this presentation by embedding fonts and scripts via the Google CDN, it should be noted that an appropriate level of data protection is guaranteed by Google within the scope of its participation in the so-called „Privacy Shield“ and the measures taken by Google for data protection and data security. Further information about data processing by Google can be found in Google's privacy policy. There, you can also change your personal privacy settings in the data protection centre. Detailed information on managing your own data in connection with Google products can be found here. The legal basis for this data processing is Art. 6 (1) lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest within the meaning of this legal norm is an appealing presentation and guaranteed functionality of our online offers.

SSL encryption

This page uses SSL encryption for security and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as enquiries you send to us as the site operator. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the browser's address bar changing from „http://“ to „https://“ and by the padlock icon in your browser bar. When SSL encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Job applications

Your application data will be collected and processed by us electronically for the purpose of handling the application procedure. If your application leads to the conclusion of an employment contract, your submitted data may be stored by us in your personnel file for the purpose of the usual organisational and administrative process, observing the relevant legal regulations. The deletion of the data submitted by you will take place if your job application is rejected, automatically two months after the rejection is announced. This does not apply if longer storage is necessary due to legal requirements (for example, the burden of proof under the General Equal Treatment Act) or if you have expressly consented to longer storage in our prospect database.

Facebook

Plugins of the social network Facebook, provided by Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA, are integrated into our pages. You can recognise the Facebook plugins by the Facebook logo or the „Like button“ on our page. An overview of the Facebook plugins can be found here: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/. When you visit our pages, the plugin establishes a direct connection between your browser and the Facebook server. This allows Facebook to receive information that you have visited our website with your IP address. If you click the Facebook „Like“ button while logged into your Facebook account, you can link the content of our pages to your Facebook profile. This allows Facebook to associate your visit to our pages with your user account. Please note that we, as the provider of the pages, do not receive any information about the content of the transmitted data or its use by Facebook. You can find more information about this in Facebook's privacy policy at https://de-de.facebook.com/policy.php. If you do not want Facebook to be able to associate the visit to our pages with your Facebook user account, please log out of your Facebook user account.

X (formerly Twitter)

Features of the X service are integrated into our pages. These features are provided by Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. By using Twitter and the „Retweet“ function, the websites you visit are linked to your Twitter account and made known to other users. This also involves the transfer of data to Twitter. We point out that as the provider of the pages, we do not receive knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or its use by Twitter. You can find further information on this in Twitter's privacy policy at https://twitter.com/privacy. Your data protection settings on Twitter can be found in your account settings under: https://twitter.com/account/settings change.

Instagram

Features of the service Instagram are integrated on our pages. These features are offered by Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA. If you are logged into your Instagram account, you can link the content of our pages to your Instagram profile by clicking the Instagram button. This allows Instagram to associate your visit to our pages with your user account. We would like to point out that we, as the provider of the pages, do not receive any knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or its use by Instagram. You can find further information on this in Instagram's privacy policy: https://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/

YouTube

Our website uses plugins from the Google-operated site YouTube. The operator of the sites is YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. When you visit one of our pages equipped with a YouTube plugin, a connection to YouTube's servers is established. This informs the YouTube server which of our pages you have visited. If you are logged into your YouTube account, you enable YouTube to associate your browsing behaviour directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account. Further information on the handling of user data can be found in YouTube's privacy policy at: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy

Your rights as a data subject

Regarding our processing of your personal data, you have the right to

  • Right to access (Article 15 GDPR)
  • Right to rectification (Article 16 GDPR)
  • Erasure (Article 17 GDPR)
  • Restriction (Art. 18 GDPR)
  • Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
  • Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR)
  • the existence of a right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority pursuant to Article 78 GDPR

You can do this with the supervisory authority responsible for us:

North Rhine-Westphalia State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information

Topicality and change

This privacy statement is currently valid and has the status March 2025. By further developing our website and services, or due to changed legal or regulatory requirements, it may become necessary to amend this privacy policy. We reserve the right to adapt this privacy policy from time to time so that it always meets the current legal requirements or to reflect changes in our services in the privacy policy. The updated privacy policy, which you can always find here at this location, will then apply to your next visit.